Label machine



C. OUELLETTE LABEL MACHINE July 21, 1953 Filed NOV. 50, 1951 PatentedJuly 21, 1953 7 V LABEL MACHINE Clarence Ouellette, Springfield, Mass.,assignor to 7 Wrap-King Corporation,

Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts 7 Application November 30, 1951,Serial No. 259,255 I 1 Claim; (Cl. 216-'-55) This invention relates toimprovements in labeling apparatus and this application is acontinuation in part of an application filed byme on October 31'," 1950,as Ser. No. 193,2 2, now

Patent Number 2,613,008, issued October 7, .1952.

The principal objects of the invention are the provision of means inassociation with the heating surface of a heater to prevent contact oflabels with said surface as they are moved therepast by a label carryingdrum.

According to the prior art apparatus, labels having a thermoplasticsurface have been passed over a heated member in direct contacttherewith to soften the thermoplastic for subsequent application of thelabels to objects or packages.

This is very objectionable for the reason that the thermoplastic adheresto the surface of the heated member. This requires frequent cleaning ofthe heating surface which results in shutdown time of the apparatus.

According to the novel features of this invention, means isprovided forholding the label outwardly of the heater surface whereby thethermoplastic is adequately softened while the heater surface is notsmearedwith the adhesive.

Said means includes relatively spaced blades out of contact with theheater or its surface and these may be made from material having greaterheat dissipating characteristicsthan the heater itself to obviateadhesive adhering to the blades.

All of the above objects I accomplish by means. of such structure andrelative arrangements of parts thereof, as will fully appear by aperusal of the description below and by various specific features whichwill be hereinafter set forth.

To the above cited andother ends and with the foregoing and variousother novel features 7 and advantages and other objects of my inven-Referring now to the drawings more in detail,

' theginvention will'be fully described. I

So much of label apparatus of the before-mentioried application is shownas will facilitate an understanding of the present invention.

A housing is represented by 2 having a drum shaft 4 rotatable thereinand extending forwardly therefrom. A bracket 6 is secured to the housingand extends forwardly therefrom with the outer end of shaft 4 rotatabletherein. r

.A drum I0 is rotated by shaft 4 in the direction of the arrow shownandv has a jaw I2 cooperating with a member M to engage and gripv theforward end of-a label and carry it in the direction'of the arrow past aheater indicated Guides 18 are shown for supporting a vertical stack oflabels L, and a lever 20 oscillatable by a shaft 22 journalled in thehousing has a suction cup 24 for engaging the lowermost label of thestack. V

As the saidlowermost label is engaged by the suction cup, the lever 20swings clockwise to present the forward edge of the label to the membersl2 and I4 ofthe drum.

Said members [2 and I4 grip the label and as the drum rotates said labelis carried past the heater H as in the application referred to.

V The heater is secured to the forward side i of the housing 2 andencloses heating. means which maybe a resistance coil connected in anelectric circuit; Thearrangement is such that an innercurved surface 26of the heateris-heated so as to soften the thermoplastic on the labelsas they are carried therepast by the drum I 0.

The curved surface 26 of the heater is provided with transversely spacedgrooves 28,.the bottoms of which are arranged as is the surface26'complemental to the outer curved labelsupporting surface 30 of thedrum.

Curved blades 32 have upper ends such as 34 which are secured by screws36 to a member'3 8 that is secured to bracket 6 by a screw or screwssuch as 40. These blades may'be secured-in other ways.

The blades are curved so as to be complemental to the curvature of thelabel drum and have inner surfaces 44 spaced outwardly or'awy from thecurved surface 26 of the heater.

The sides of the blades are spaced from the sides of the grooves and therearor inner edges thereof are spaced from the bottoms is of the groovesso as to provide air spaces between the blades and heater.

"The blades not being in contact with the heater, the heat of the heateris not transmitted directly to the blades so that the temperature of theblades may be somewhat less than that of the heater which is desirable.

To provide a lowertemperature of the blades than that of the heater, theblades may be formed from metal which is adapted to dissipate heat morerapidly than the metal at the curved surface of the heater. As anexample, the bars may be formed from aluminum and the curved surface ofthe heater may be formed from cast iron or the like.

It will be desired that the heater besuch as to provide the desiredtemperature for softening the adhesive while the bars are not intendedfor this function. To that end, the selection of metals in combinationwith the relationship of the bars and heater will accomplish the result.

As the label drum rotates to carry alalcel, having thermoplasticorsomeheat responsive adhesive or coating on the face thereof, past thecurved surface of the heater, the coated surface of the label is heldout of contact with said curved sur face. The objection of the adhesiveadhering thereto which would interfere with the passage of labelstherepast and frequent cleaning thereof is obviated. p H M The bladesmay be relatively thin transversely and the spaces between the bladesan'd wallsof the grooves maybe varied in order to accomplish the desiredresults, In any case, the blades will perform their function without inany way inter- 'fering with the action of the heating surfaceof theheater onthe coating of the labels but will insure that the heatingsurface is kept clean so that shut-down for cleaning is avoided. I

Heretofore not only has the heating surface of the heater been smearedwith adhesive so that the surface requires cleaniii'g, but the adhesiveofiers resistance to the passage of labelsthereover. Furthermore, labelshave been devoid of the adhesive adhering to theheating surface.

By means of the bars which 'do not remove any 'appreciableainount ofadhesive from the labels if any at all, the labels slide readily alongthe bars and the cleaningof the heating surface does not c ur. l

The invention may-be embodied in other spa ciflc forms without departingfrom the essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the presentembodi'ments are therefore to be considered in all respects merely asbeing illustrative and. not as being restrictive, the scope er theinvention being indicated by the appended claim rather than by theforegoing description, and all "modifications and variations as fallwithin the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appendedclaim are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

- What it is desired to claim andsecure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

Mechanism for heating softenabl adhesive on labels comp-rising, asupport, a drum rotatable relative to said support on a horizontallongitudinal axis having a label supporting cylindricalfaceconcentrically related to said axis for carrying a label having heatsoftenable adhesive on an outermost side thereof, a heater secured tosaid support having an inner cylindrical heating surface arrangedconcentrically relative to said axis and so disposed relative to theface of said drum as to be spaced outwardly away from the outermost faceof a label on said face, the heating surface of the heater provided withgrooves thcre around of a certain transverse width and spacedlongitudinallyof the axis of rotation of the drum and extending into theheater and having relatively spaced sides and bottoms, bladesin the formof elongated arcuate strips of relatively greater width than thicknessdisposed in said grooves having an end thereof secured to support, thethickness of said blades being relatively less than the width of saidgrooves whereby outer sides thereof are out of contact with the sides ofsaid grooves, outer edges of said blades being spaced away from thebottoms of said grooves with opposite inner edges thereof dispo'sedbeyond the innersurface of the heater toward the axis of the drum andadapted to be engaged by the outermost sides of labels on said drum tospace said sides away from the heating surface.

CLARENCE OUELLETTE.

Reiereiiee's Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber Name Date 2,329,669 Tuthill Sept. 14, 1943 2,449,298 Hoppe Sept.14, 1948 2,527,272 Lyon et a1 Oct. 24, 1950 2,538,520 Holt et al. .aJan. 16, 2,587,211 Piazze Feb. 26, 1952 min

